Nowhere near enough has been said about how terrible SU's defense played in this game. 10 goals to binghamton...are you sh***** me!?! Coluccini once again played poorly, registering 8 saves, and the Orange D let in some sooooft goals. I know SU went on a nice little run in the 4th quarter to put it away, but if you want to be a national champion you have to put these games away in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Binghamton is a 6th or 7th year program, we have 9 (10) national championships, and we let the score get to 10-8 in the latter stages of the game? Something is definitely wrong on that side of the field, and Coach Simmons needs to really really fix it.

However, 16 goals is an admirable performance from the offense, especially with leveille and hardy hampered by what i hope were minor injuries during the game. Big Dan got his ankle rolled up on early in the game, but returned, and i'm not sure what happened to Leveille but he left the game for some time, it appeared to be any number of lower body injuries (ankle, knee, muscular). The Orange made smart passes and had some great cuts - the strength of this offense is their off-ball movement, and they need to utilize that more. Nims is beautiful to watch moving off the ball in front of the cage, and it was great to see a break-out performance from him. Steve Brooks is continuing his fine form, putting up another huge game; he's absolutely better than his sophomore season on '05, and complete offensive player and a great shooter. No way he won't make at least 2nd team all-american.

So the offense looked good, the faceoff unit looked good, and the defense looked real bad. Why has this become the staple of SU in the past couple seasons? Gone are defenders like Glatzel, Abrams, Sol Bliss, and St. George that would absolutely manhandle opponents one on one. Gone are the cool and collected goaltenders like Rob Mulligan and Jay Pfeifer. This needs to change dramatically, and I think it comes down to recruiting. Our coaching staff is one of the best in the game, but we're just not getting the top flight recruits right now. Imagine this offense with the likes of Megill and Whittenberg at UMD on defense? Would this team be unstoppable? Probably not, but they wouldn't be allowing 10 goals to binghamton, 17 to hopkins, etc. SU really needed something positive to come out of this statement game against a clearly inferior opponent, and they failed to make a big statement. My love for the team is unwavering, but my faith in a final four appearance is shaken.

P.S. - For all those wondering about the Perritt/Carozza situation, I haven't heard any official statements from anyone here at he school, but they are back practicing and were dressed for the game, just didn't play. I'm assuming they'll be back sometime this year, however, I don't know when. Hopefully soon. But let it be an example for the future div 1 stars of lacrosse - alcohol use and partying are going to happen, thats just become a "lifestyle" of lacrosse players. Don't be stupid about it, don't make poor decisions; it will cost you, your team, and it is just another unneccessary black eye for a sport that will be cleaning up its image for a long time coming.